Tartarus
by FriedIce
Summary: In Fiore, Lucy Heartfilia was a spoilt heiress who ran away from home. In Sin, Lucy Heartfilia was known as a master celestial mage. In Pergrande, the name Lucy Heartfilia was a taboo intimately associated with bloodshed. It was a shame Phantom Lord only knew of her reputation in Fiore. AU
1. Chapter 1 - A Party Like No Other

Chapter One - A Party Like No Other

The blame for the Twilit War is often placed solely on the shoulders of Lucy Heartfilia. This isn't entirely unfounded, of course; after all, she was the spark that set off an already ticking bomb. Lucy Heartfilia, however, and her manipulation of the Accords of Persephone, were not the sole causes. With hindsight, it is clear that war was inevitable.

The Old Powers were unyielding, the Accords outdated and the Spiral Minaret clearly provocative to the Celestial Courts. And, thrown into the mix was Fairy Tail, whose famously audacious mages were more than happy to throw veritable flares into the metaphorical powder keg.

_James Powler, An Examination of the Causes and Repercussions of the Twilit War_

* * *

The woman certainly didn't look dressed for the occasion as she approached the rather ostentatious party boat. Her long blonde hair had been pulled up into a high pony-tail and she was showing relatively little skin, her arms and legs hidden by either leggings or a long-sleeved under-shirt.

Her clothes were travel worn, but beneath the grime and wear, there was a spark that hinted at expensive origins. In fact, beneath the grime and wear on her person, there was a spark that hinted at aristocratic origins in everything she did. The grace and posture that could only have been drilled into her from a young age, the slight lilt when she spoke, her aristocratic features…

But it was impossible. From the dirt to the natural weariness of her person, there was no way that this woman could be a noble.

As she stepped up to the gangplank, the woman seemed to catch sight of whomever she was looking for. Her eyes locked onto the man leaning against the doorframe and she made a beeline for him.

He was tall, with blue hair and features that could be considered handsome – if you were heavily drunk.

"So Bora, you said you had information?"

"Ahh Lucy, come in, come in," he said, waving her inside with his usual extravagance. "Have a seat. Would you like a drink?"

"I'll pass on the drink thanks, Bora. I know what you put in them," She stated wryly as she sat down on a plushy armchair.

"Lucy, what have I ever done to earn such mistrust?" Bora asked making a hurt expression come to his face.

Lucy looked at him as if he'd just asked her if the sky was blue.

"You drug young men and women and sell them as slaves in the Eastern Kingdoms," she stated bluntly. "It's not so much a matter of mistrust as one of healthy paranoia."

"You wound me with your words, Lucy," Bora said dramatically, miming an arrow piercing his heart. "I would never be so impolite as to sell you to the Eastern Kingdoms." Lucy raised her eyebrows, as if doubting his statement. Bora's smile turned devious. "The Spiral Minaret would pay far more."

Lucy tensed up, her mind going over escape patterns in an instant. The windows, the stairs, overboard… Lucy only calmed down when she realised that Bora wasn't threatening her and merely intended his statement as a polite rebuke.

"Sorry Bora," she apologised. "It was impolite of me to make such a crude allurement to your profession," she paused before continuing. "However, please accept my assurances that it was only meant in jest, if of poor wit."

"You're forgiven already Lucy," Bora said, adding a leering wink to the end of his statement.

Lucy had to do her best not to cringe.

"You're too kind," she said, trying to sound sincere. "And if that offer of a drink is still open I'll have some white wine"

"Farrow, fetch the Chateau de la Valliera," He ordered to one of the nearby servants. "So what's got you so worked up, then?"

Knowing that she wouldn't get the information she wanted until he was satisfied she sighed and began to explain.

"I recently discovered that Phantom Lord has claimed my father's job. I've been constantly looking over my shoulder for the past week and a half," she said with a sigh. Bora would immediately understand what she meant by the job. It was, after all, considered common knowledge throughout the criminal underworld that Lucy was in outs with her father.

"Well, Lucy, look on the bright side: at least it wasn't a dark guild that took him up on it; the Legal guilds at least have rules they have to abide by," he said in a tone which, while on the surface understanding, made it patently obvious that he wanted more information than just that.

"I'd actually be less worried if it was a dark guild. The Ballam Alliance couldn't do anything without upsetting the non-aggression-pact and Raven Tail isn't stupid enough to piss off Hoenn." She sighed again. "In the past it was just lone wolves who came after me, most of which I could take, but against the Element Four and a bloody Dragon Slayer? I'd be defeated and clapped in magic suppressant chains before you could say 'marriage'."

"You know, you could always just join a legal guild. Then you'd be protected under the allied mages treaty," Bora suggested.

Lucy blinked for a moment, considering what Bora had said.

_Hmm,_ _that's not actually a bad idea, there's the issue with me not being a registered mage, but I could claim to have registered in Perigrande and… _

"Maybe," she murmured, then shook herself out of the reverie; she could think on that in more depth later. "Anyway, you said you had information?"

"Yes. Before we start, however, I'll need payment. The information you handed over didn't cover it."

_Greedy Bastard._

"How much do you want?"

"Hmm, maybe 20,000 Jewels."

"Fine" She stated, taking out the required money. The price, whilst expensive, was not unexpected, given the lack of information she was prepared to trade. "This had better be good."

He counted the money and smiled. "Thank you. So as…" He broke off as the wine arrived. "Finally. What took you so long, Farrow?" He asked sharply

"I'm sorry Sir; it was hard to find the vintage you asked for. It won't happen again Sir." The crew member who was presumably named Farrow grovelled.

"See that it doesn't." Bora got up, grabbed two glasses and poured the wine, then sat down again. "So," he stated, sipping his wine as he did so "Rather predictably the Clock Tower declared war on the Spiral Minaret just over two weeks ago. However, that isn't the news I'm charging for. The day the Clock Tower declared war the Duchess of Emptiness led an assault on Pengrade Fortress. She was supported by a Wizard Marshal, a Primary Colour, two Lords and over 50 Enforcers of the Association; they apparently intended to strike before the Spiral Minaret was ready to defend along their front."

"So what happened?" Lucy prompted

"They were completely and utterly destroyed. Both of the Lords are dead along with 60% of the enforcers. Red was badly injured and Wizard Marshal Emiya was captured."

Lucy took a minute to process the information.

"Thank you Bora," she said with a smile, still rolling over what he had said in her mind. "That was worth every Jewel. I'll just see myself out then."

"Why don't you stay for the party tonight? You never know, you might enjoy yourself." Lucy raised her eyebrows, asking the unspoken question. Bora sighed. "I promise not to drug your food and drink," he added, almost reluctantly.

_What to do, what to do? Well, on one hand there's the fact that he drugs people at these parties and sells them at the eastern Kingdoms. On the other, there's the fact that if I say no he'd take offense. I don't really have a good reason and I'd rather not lose him as a source of information just because he's offended that I turned him down...Oh, what the heck? I might even enjoy myself, unlikely as it may be._

"Very well, I'll stay for the party," she replied. "Do you have somewhere I can clean up?"

"Certainly, Farrow will show you," Bora said as he gestured for Farrow to show her to a room.

* * *

Lucy had a faint smile on her face as she wandered around the party. It had, despite her expectations, ended up as a fairly pleasant way to spend the evening.

_Shame about the planned ending really, _she thought wryly.

Despite the fact that it was by no means as bad as she had predicted, Lucy had no plans in the foreseeable future to attend a similar function, should she be able to avoid it.

With a sigh, she glanced to where Bora was sat, five women captivated by his good looks and charm. _Or, rather_, Lucy added mentally, _by that damned charm ring of his_.

Lucy shook her head in casual dislike.

_Bora may get a rush from watching his victims walk slowly into his trap, _Lucy thought, _but, honestly, it's not for me. Thankfully, _she added,_ I'm not that far gone yet._

With a glance at her watch, Lucy noted that she only had another half an hour left before the duties of politeness were fulfilled and she could be on the road, hightailing it out of there before she was caught and implicated in Bora's human trafficking ring. _Speaking of the road, _she thought, _maybe I should start to make arrangements for joining a guild…_

**CRASH!**

Lucy's head whipped up at the sound of the crash, and she barely contained the instinct to grab her keys from her hip. Her eyes scanned the room critically, trying to discern what the hell was going on. That was when Lucy realised that the ceiling now had a rather large hole in it.

Lucy calmly took a sip of her un-drugged wine.

_Well, _she thought, looking at the pile of rubble in the centre of the room. _If this is Bora's idea of entertainment, he's getting far more excentric than I thought._

The dust began to clear. Lucy's eyebrows shot into her hairline.

Barely visible, through the thick clouds of powder, was a man-shaped object.

_Somehow, _Lucy downed the rest of her wine, her thoughts rather amused, _I don't think that's on the agenda for tonight._

* * *

_Did that guy just crash through the ceiling? My brand new, state of the art, magically reinforced ceiling? I've only had it for two weeks. Two weeks! And it's already broken! That…_

"BORA!" yelled the interloper, breaking Bora out of his ramblings.

The man was young, with red hair that seemed to burn like fire and a yellow scarf. Given how they were in the midst of summer, his rather extreme choice of clothing seemed a _little_ unnecessary.

"YOU BASTARD!"

And apparently he was also quite angry.

_Mm, the guy seems to be rather angry with me. I wonder what I did?_

Further thought process were altered by the man tensing his fists, which promptly caught on fire.

_OK. The fire mage seems to be angry with me. I should probably work out why and head off a confrontation before we damage the yacht in a battle._

"I apologise for whatever I seem to have done to offend you," Bora said smoothly, "If you'd enlighten me as to what I've done perhaps we could come to a peaceful solution?"

The young man didn't even consider the offer.

"You know damn well what you've done Bora!" he shouted. "Not only did you…"

Bora let the words of the enraged teenager was over him, no longer paying attention as the young man let out as much pent up anger as he could. Bora's focus was elsewhere, namely on the teenager's chest. On the teenager's chest where Bora could quite clearly see a luminescent orange mark. The mark of Fairy Tail.

_Well crap._

There was only one fire mage in Fairy Tail that was the right age to be the man in front of him: Natsu 'Salamander' Dragoneel. Bora suddenly knew exactly why he would be angry with him.

"And now the council won't leave me alone! And it's all your fault!" Natsu cried with finality, then sighed; it feelt good to let that out. Calmer now, he continued, "Now this is what's going to happen. I am going to beat you into a pulp. I will then take you to the Mage's Council where you will explain very clearly that you were using my name as a lure for your slaving business. After which you will live out the rest of your life in prison."

He laid everything out with a calm attitude that seemed somewhat uncharacteristic for the hotheaded youth that had crashed through Bora's ceiling.

_But I don't want to go to prison, _Bora's mind winged, then it snapped to attention._ NO! Focus Bora! You need to find a way to get away... But how? Nothing I throw at him will do any good. _Thoughts were flashing through Bora's mind at the speed of light. _What about..? No, but what if..? Yes! Use a thief to catch a thief._

"Help! This man's trying to kill me! Help me please!" he yelled, praying that Lucy would understand the hidden meaning in his words.

* * *

"Help me please!"

Lucy sighed, having immediately gotten the message. Internally she was debating her next course of action. On one hand she was loathe at best to help the slave trader and on the other if she did he'd owe her, big time.

_What to do? What to do? Behind door number one we have we have a little strenuous activity followed by being owed a favour the size of a country by one of the biggest information dealers on the … And behind door number two we have some less strenuous effort with a side course of moral well-being. Hm… _She barely took a moment to think. _The country sized favour it is. You know it's almost depressing how easy that choice was…_

She glanced upwards to see Bora franticly dodging some sort of orange coloured beam attack.

_Bora won't hold out much longer, he's so badly outclassed it's not even funny. I should get a move on. _

Lucy dropped into a fighting stance, her hand instinctively moving towards the money pouch attached to her belt, before she even realised what she was doing. Her elegant fingers wrapped around a key, pulling it off a keychain she had attached to the same belt. With her other hand, she flicked the cap off a water canister.

Lucy stuck the key inside, twisting it as if unlocking a door.

"Open, Gate of The Water Bearer."

* * *

_A/N: And so I present Tartarus. My first foray into Fairy Tail fandom._

_Oh yeah. This is AU. There's two points of divergence, see if you can spot them._

_Reveiw please._

_Also, unless otherwise stated none of our stories are abandoned._


	2. Chapter 2 - Jailbait

Chapter Two - Jaibait

…She is the reason your sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers will never walk another day. She is the reason why your family starve in hovels not fit for livestock. She is the reason behind the collapse of our nation. But I say no more! We must stand against the Witch of Endymion, united against her foul sorceries…

_Excerpt from a speech given by Ranon Edmunsum_

* * *

_Regulus-fucking-dammit!_ Natsu exclaimed in his head as the girl in front of him dodged his 'Fire Dragon's Wings' for what must have been the tenth time. _Why can't I just fucking hit her? Just how fast is she?_

In a situation like this, Natsu's favoured tactic was to close the distance between himself and his opponent, then smack them around with his fists. It was style that lacked any sort of subtlety or elegance, but it was just how he did things. And, believe it or not, it worked.

Natsu, however, was not a hard-headed idiot. He _was_ an S-Class mage and that did require _some_ intelligence, or at least a decent ability to think on your feet.

Natsu had originally dismissed the girl as a spoilt party-goer who just happened to have dabbled in magic. It wasn't that uncommon, and, from what he initially witnessed of her skills, an easy assumption to make. The ex-quip she had used to summon her rapier seemed unpolished and slow. Added to that, her attire was hardly typical of a mage; the only serious battlemage he'd seen get away with a dress like _that _was Erza and that was only because, well, you didn't mess with Erza.

So, when the blonde girl started to move with agility and speed similar to what Jet could manage, Natsu was understandably caught off guard.

Her obvious abilities with magic led to him concluding that she could be one of two types of mage.

First, Natsu thought, you had the idiots, who, whilst competent, decided to go into a fight wearing the most inappropriate clothes. Those, he could deal with. Second – and Natsu really hoped she wasn't this type – were the mages who were so deadly, so skilled with magic that they could afford to go into battle in a cocktail dress, because no one would be able to touch them.

Whilst he was fairly sure the mystery girl was first type, Natsu was somewhat apprehensive to treat her as such, after having underestimated her threat level once already. So he decided to treat her like he would any other higher level close combat specialist. It never occurred to him that she hadn't been expecting to fight and simply hadn't had time to change out of her dress.

Which is how he ended up in this position.

Well there was a bright side to the whole situation. He knew from Jet that speeding took quite a lot of magic, and Fire Dragon's Wings was a low enough cost attack that he could keep going for hours, even whilst keeping a solid flame in-between him and the ship in order to avoid his travel sickness. He'd have to thank Macao for teaching him that trick sometime; it was a real lifesaver.

Soon enough he'd wear the girl down enough for him to take her out quickly, after which he'd chase down that damned Bora, who had – as any sensible person would – taken advantage of the distraction to flee. He was presumably hiding somewhere else on the ship.

Still cursing in his head as the girl continued to dodge him, he barely noticed the girl call out, "Aquarius!"

It only really registered with him what she had said _after _she had flung herself overboard. For the briefest of seconds, Natsu wondered what had caused the sudden change in tactics _and _what 'Aquarius' meant, before he shrugged. He turned on his heels, deciding to take advantage of her departure to hunt Bora down.

The horrid realisation of just _who _Aquarius was – a fact that he really should have known, being an S-Class mage and all – only came when he saw the approaching flood of water.

Everything went white.

Natsu swore. _That bitch!_

* * *

_Well,_ Lucy thought as she trod water a short distance from the boat, watching the blur that used to be the fire mage she'd just been fighting against streak through the air back to port. _That went well._

She watched him disappear out of sight in the centre of the town, then smirked and started to swim back to shore. She glanced back to see Bora's ship getting visibly distant; Bora had obviously wasted no time in getting the hell out of Dodge.

**CRASH!**

"And that would be him landing," Lucy murmured to herself. "I wonder what he hit?"

"I believe it was a housing estate Lucy," a clear, melodic voice said.

Lucy's hand jumped to her keychain and she quickly turned around – as quick as you can turn around in water – to the source of the noise. She was greeted with the sight of a blue haired mermaid floating above the water, a small smirk playing across her fine features.

"Bloody hell, Aquarius," Lucy said, relaxing. "Couldn't you have warned me? And just how hard did you hit him?"

"I hit him as hard as I needed to," Aquarius stated, blatantly ignoring the first question. "Besides, it serves him right for interrupting my night with Scorpio. We'd just reached the good part too." She pouted.

_Oh. So that's why she was so pissed when I summoned her._

"I'm sorry Aquarius, I didn't know. Is there any way I can make it up to you?" Lucy asked, looking sympathetically at Aquarius. Having your spirits pissed with you was after all a good way to end up dead.

"Don't worry Lucy. I don't blame you, we both know that you wouldn't have summoned me if you didn't have to. But if you want to make it up to me don't summon me during the weekend. Scorpio and I have plans…" Aquarius smiled slightly as she spoke the last part, her tone telling Lucy that she really did not want to know what the plans consisted of. It was probably something somewhat immoral, definitely illegal and traumatising for anyone who had to bear witness.

"Sure," Lucy agreed easily. "Thanks Aquarius, you can go now."

_Still, _she thought as Aquarius disappeared in a flash of light,_ I hope the guy ain't dead. I've got enough trouble on my hands without yet another guild coming after my fine, shapely arse._

With those thoughts Lucy Heartfillia started to slowly make her way back to Hargeon.

* * *

Lucy Heartfillia was annoyed.

She'd been arrested by the Rune Knights as soon as she'd made it to shore. They'd swarmed her as she pulled her weary body from the water, demanding ID and slapping her in cuffs. She had happily selected an ID from her collection and handed it over like any upstanding citizen would have. She hadn't threatened to bite off the agents' noses as they'd led her through the HQ, acting cooperative for once. She'd even made an effort to be polite as they shoved her into a bland, empty room obviously intended for interrogation and promptly left her there.

She estimated it had been almost six hours.

The room was white-washed and dull. There was a wooden table in the middle, with three chairs around it and a mirror stretched across one wall. No chains, no magic suppressant runes, no nothing. They hadn't even taken away her belt with her celestial keys on it. Apparently she didn't qualify as high risk – something Lucy found mildly insulting – or they weren't planning on arresting her.

She would have gone to sleep – it had been a long day – but she didn't want to risk that they would pick that exact moment to decide to start interrogating her. Grogginess never helped during questionings and almost always resulted in giving something away. So, instead of succumbing to her growing desire for sleep, she dragged one of the chairs round to her side, stuck her feet on it and started amusing herself. She was currently listing the various inadequacies of the Rune Knights operation.

_ But still, _Lucy thought in her head as she started on inadequacy number 76 – being full of arseholes. _Leaving a celestial mage with access to her totems? How negligent can you be?_

She was shaken out of her thoughts by the sound of the door opening.

_Finally. Any longer and I would have started breaking things…_

Two men walked in. They were almost complete opposites of each other: one short, one tall; one fat, one thin; one bearded, one cleanly shaven. It was almost comical that they'd been paired together. Lucy guessed that they were the operatives in charge of the investigation.

"Lucy Heartfillia." It was a statement. "I am Special…"

"Lady Heartfillia," Lucy interrupted, voice stern. She spoke as if correcting grammar, with a slight disinterest and more than enough contempt.

"Pardon?" the taller of the two asked, looking mildly peeved that she'd stolen his thunder.

Lucy pulled a strand of her hair between her fingers and began to twiddle it absent-mindedly.

"I'll have you know that I am a countess," she stated. "I'm not some low-bred whore for you to address as you please."

The fat one glanced at the thin one, apparently some sort of superior, who nodded.

"Very well _Lady _Heartfilia," he continued, putting a large amount of emphasis on the 'Lady'. Though the address was formal, Lucy could tell he was being mocking. "As I was saying, I am Agent Huges and my colleague here is Special Agent Yolof." Huges – Lucy fully understood the irony of his name – made a backwards gesture to Yolof.

"I'll be frank," Huges went on. "We have enough evidence here to put your ladyship away for a long, long time." Lucy resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Were they honestly trying to fool her with this act of clichés held together by a bare thread of sense?

Huges didn't notice her disregard for them and continued to speak, "I'm of the opinion we should just arrest you and be done with it. My partner, however, disagrees." He gestured again to Yolof. "So, if you have any information which would help us in any way, now would be the time to share it." He paused expectantly.

"What exactly are you interested in?" Lucy directed the question at the tall man who was obviously playing good-cop. Not that either of their roles were particularly awe-inspiring.

"What is your relationship with Bora of Prominence?" Yolof asked.

"Oh, he's a long term business partner of my family," Lucy said, lies coming to her lips with ease. "I was actually there to deliver papers for our next deal when that peasant assaulted us."

"What exactly did those papers contain?"

"I have no idea." Lucy shrugged to emphasise this point, before adding, "And, even if I did, I wouldn't tell you; those were confidential business documents."

The look of shock on their faces when she said that was glorious. Lucy bit back a smile. To Agent Huges and Special Agent Yolof, the idea that the nobility dealt in slaves was obviously horrifying. She was about to go further with the ruse when a young man in the uniform of a low ranking knight entered through the door.

Yolof, obviously forgetting his role as good cop, spun around to face the knight in annoyance.

"What are you doing?" he demanded. "Can't you see we're in the middle of an interrogation, imbecile?"

Kudos to the knight – he barely flinched at the insult.

"I'm sorry sir," the knight said, "but there's a man outside who says he needs to see you both. He says it's urgent sir."

"Do we have to do everything ourselves?" Yolof snarled. The knight merely gazed stoically at him. The two engaged in this staring match for all of thirty seconds before Yolof sighed. "Very well," he said, frustration evident in his tone. "We'll finish with you later." He directed the last bit at Lucy before getting up out of his chair and leaving, Huges following.

Lucy waved goodbye cheerily at them, well aware that this only irritated the pair further. After they had left, her face turned calculating.

_Hmm… _she considered._ I wonder what happened… Must be important to warrant interrupting an interrogation. _Lucy's gaze flickered to the mirror-wall on one side of the interrogation room. _Would it be worth it? _Lucy barely had to debate it before deciding it would.

Scrying was regarded as something of a lost magic, mostly due to the insane amount of magical power it required – making it hard to learn and far too overspecialised for most mages. This meant that despite information on it being relatively easy to come by, it was a discipline primarily reserved for S-and-SS-class mages. Needless to say when Lucy had discovered its existence she'd immediately decided to learn it.

Placing a hand on the mirror-wall, Lucy gathered her focus. Magic thronged around her as she quietly whispered her spell.

"Dimension Twist," she said.

At once, Lucy was overcome with the sensory overload she got each time she activated the spell. Her ears picked up on the smallest details, like the weight of footsteps and her eyes saw a second set of images.

That was when Lucy felt something wrong. It was as if there was a block, one which her magic just wasn't penetrating. Frowning slightly, Lucy tried to dig into it, overriding it with magic, channelling more and more, but as soon as she got a foothold, it shifted, her magic with it.

_Crap, _Lucy realised. _A distortion… _She took a deep breath. _Relax, Lucy, _she told herself. _Just feel the distortion, search for a pattern… _Lucy delved into the block with her magic, feeling her way around it, but being careful not to make it shift. _Yes! There! That's an epsilon wave action… _Lucy allowed herself a small, triumphant smile. _Now, if I just sync my spell to that, I should get something…_

Slowly, the distortion lifted as Lucy's magic matched with it.

_"What do you mean you're taking custody of her? She's a vital part of our investigation! She's the nearest thing to a lead we've had since this thing started!"_

_Hmm… _Lucy thought._ No picture. Too bad. Oh well, it's not like I have the energy left to go through _that_ again._

_"As I said, the Special Administrative Division has declared her a strategic asset. Therefore, we will take custody of her. Honestly, I don't know what you're complaining about. You've had her for six hours already."_

Lucy's ears picked up on some unintelligible grumbling, before she heard the person's reply.

_"Very well. I'll go get her then."_

Lucy's eyes snapped open, cancelling the spell as she did. She hurried back to where she was sitting previously, and made a scene of picking her fingernails. She'd barely sat down before Tweedledee and Tweedledum walked back inside the cell.

* * *

**CHINK**.

Lucy heard the sound of the handcuffs attached to her dropping to the floor of the Hargeon Pier. Lucy blinked, shaking of the disorientation she was experiencing from the surprise teleportation, as she stared out over the water. The first bits of sunlight were peaking over the horizon, making it rather picturesque.

Lucy turned around to the figure accompanying her.

"OK, Doranbolt. You have my attention," she said. "Why're you here?"

Doranbolt ran a hand through his spikey black hair.

"It's nice to see you too, Lucy," he said, as if conversing with her. "Oh, what's that? You're welcome for getting you out of prison, Lucy."

Lucy was not amused by his act.

"Doranbolt," she said, making sure just how unamused she was coloured her voice. "I have just been in a cell for over six hours waiting to be interrogated. Before that I fought a battle against an S-class mage, whilst wearing _this_." She gestured dispassionately at the party dress which she was still wearing. "I have been looking over my shoulder all week for assassins. I am tired and hungry and growing more irritated by the second." Lucy fixed Doranbolt with a glare. "So, I'm going to ask you again. What do you want?"

Doranbolt fixed her with a look, one which she really was in no mood to decipher, before sighing.

"Very well," he said as he dug into one of his pockets. From it, he withdrew a letter, which he handed to her. "For you."

Lucy resisted the urge to querie, 'A love letter?' and accepted it.

"Thank you," she said politely. When she looked up, she expected Doranbolt to be gone, but he remained, standing there. Lucy quirked an eyebrow. "Was there anything else?"

"There is the small matter of payment for services rendered," Doranbolt stated without emotion.

Lucy nodded slowly.

"I don't have enough to cover it on me," she admitted. "Talk to Hoenn, tell him to take it out of my research budget."

Doranbolt nodded briefly and disappeared, teleporting away. Lucy waited a moment then turned her attention to the letter in front of her.

_Now what's so urgent that you needed Doranbolt of all people to deliver it?_

Her eyes passed over the outside briefly before she tore it open. Her eyebrows rose as she decoded the contents. _Odd. I wonder what he wants. This _is_ an awful lot of effort to go. No matter. It can wait. Now, first things first, I want somewhere to take a kip._

Lucy turned round and started walking into Hargeon, looking for a place to take a nap.

* * *

Lucy smiled as walked down the coast road out of Hargeon. It wasn't a wide, joyous smile; it wasn't a sad, lonely smile; it was a small secretive smile. A smile that hinted at plans and manipulations. The cause of this smile was a small book that she was flicking through as she walked. The book, bought from the only magic store in Hargeon, was a basic summary of the Council sanctioned guilds.

She continued like this until she reached the section on one particular guild. As her eyes flickered over the words, her small smile slowly widened until eventually it was, once she'd completed it, a full on smirk.

_'Fairy Tail._

_'A small guild based in Magnolia, Fairy Tail is amongst the more well known of the Guilds. This is due to the on-going partnership their master, Makarov, has with the tabloid 'Weekly Sorcerer' in which the guilds exploits are often published._

_'Fairy Tail has a certain reputation for collateral damage, its mages often having ignored such ideals as damage control in favour of completing their mission objectives. This is the main reason why, despite their high mission success rate, their guild hall resembles a dive._

_'Notable members include…'_

_Fairy Tail huh? _Lucy thought. She snapped the book shut decisively. _Yes. They sound perfect._

* * *

_Yay. Chapter Two. This took so long to get to you due to exam woes. Hopefully I'll be able to speed up production now._

_Again, anyone who can guess the two divergence points gets a virtual cookie.  
_

_FriedIce.  
_

_PS. Reveiw  
_


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